2018 Nissan LEAF Reveal Recap: 150 Miles This Year, 200+ Miles Next Year

The new 2018 Nissan LEAF takes the stage for the first time at its debut event in Tokyo, Japan

It was August 2009 when we got our first look at the Nissan LEAF. Now just 8 years later, and after some 7 years of retail sales, the next generation has arrived.

So lets not bury the lead, the 2018 Nissan indeed gets more range – and it is exactly the “more range” we have been pounding the table on for the past ~2 years.

Yes, the 40 kWh/150 mile battery for ~$30k US is nice, but we have our eye on the 60 kWh battery in 2018 nonetheless

There will ultimately be two battery choices available, a base 40 kWh offering at launch, and an optional 60 kWh pack.

The 40 kWh is pegged to get an EPA-estimated 150 miles of range (400km/248 miles on the optimistic Japanese metric – JC08) – a 40% gain.

With that said, Nissan will only be making the 40 kWh available out of the gate, the 60 kWh battery (with reportedly better performance as well) arrives in the second half 2018 – as a 2019 model.

Given the way math and weight works for plug-in vehicles, if the 40 kwh LEAF nets 150 miles, the 60 kWh version is estimated to be somewhere around 220-225 miles of range.

Pricing begins, as expected, from $29,990 in the US (more pricing/specs below) – which of course means, “Hello $199/month lease deals practically right out of the gate”. Also of note: In Canada, the LEAF starts at $35,998 (~$29,000 USD) and again comes with better base options (such as standard DC fast charging, “All Weather Package” – heated seats/steering wheel).

“When we launched LEAF in 2010, it instantly became the most affordable, mass market EV in the world. We are not walking away from that proposition,” said José Muñoz, Chief Performance Officer, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Chairman, Nissan North America, Inc

“The value equation for the new LEAF is even stronger than ever before – beginning with a starting MSRP1 under $30,000. That’s a lower price than the LEAF in market today and it includes more power, range and technology, all wrapped in a beautiful new exterior and interior design.”

This the improved look, range and sharper pricing, Nissan expects sales to double or even triple (if not more) in 2018. Only time will tell if this prediction comes true…although we suspect if Nissan stocks the 2018 LEAF well, it shouldn’t have any issues with putting up some pretty decent numbers.

New Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa introduces the 2018 mile leaf

On the performance side, things have improved there as well with a motor inverter (and maybe a software) tweak. The 2018 LEAF nets 147 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque (up from 107 hp and 187 lb-ft in the current model).

As a result, Nissan says the 0-100 km/h (0-62mph) time has been cut by 15 percent.

As a point of reference, when we tested a 2017 LEAF to 60 mph, we netted a time of 10.3 seconds; so a 15% gain from that point would be 0-60 mph in ~8.9 seconds.

New Nissan LEAF sales start first in Japan in October, while the US first deliveries could happen in late December (although in press the company is officially saying early 2018). We should note the LEAF will be available in all 50 states immediately in early 2018.

2018 Nissan LEAF pricing/basic specs US

Video (below): Nissan Global put out this interesting 2018 LEAF spot

2018 Nissan LEAF Interior

2018 Nissan LEAF arrives in all 50 US states and Europe in early 2018 – October in Japan

New Nissan LEAF specifications (US Model)

2018 Nissan LEAF Specs – US Edition

2018 Nissan LEAF

Nissan Press Release:

The all-new 2018 Nissan LEAF: raising the bar for electric vehicles

Greater range and advanced technologies make new LEAF the ultimate EV package

2018 LEAF offers a longer range at a lower price – with stronger performance, striking new design and cutting-edge technologies

Since its launch in 2010, LEAF has been the #1 affordable, mass production EV in the world

LAS VEGAS – Nissan today introduced the all-new Nissan LEAF, the next evolution in zero-emission electric vehicles. The best-selling electric car of all time has been completely reinvented, combining greater range with a dynamic new design and advanced technologies, which represent Nissan’s technological leadership.

The new e-powertrain boosts acceleration and excitement. ProPILOT™ Assist and e-Pedal technologies make driving more enjoyable, helping enhance safety and reduce stress. Drivers of the new LEAF will feel more confident, excited and connected, while contributing to a sustainable smart-mobility society.

“The new Nissan LEAF drives Nissan Intelligent Mobility, which is the core brand strategy for Nissan’s future,” said Hiroto Saikawa, president and chief executive officer of Nissan. “The new Nissan LEAF, with its improved autonomy range, combined with the evolution of autonomous drive technology, such as ProPILOT™ Assist and the simple operation of the e-Pedal, strengthens Nissan’s EV leadership, as well as the expansion of EVs globally. It also has the core competency of future Nissan models.”

The most advanced e-powertrain
The 2018 LEAF offers a range of 150 miles1, allowing drivers to enjoy safer and longer journeys than the previous-generation vehicle. The new e-powertrain is rated at 147 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque, providing improved acceleration and driver enjoyment.

Evolved driver assistance technologies
The all-new LEAF features two new intelligent driving technologies in the North American marketplace. ProPILOT Assistdriver assistance technology, used during single-lane highway driving, helps makes a journey easier, less stressful and more relaxing.

The LEAF’s revolutionary e-Pedal technology transforms the driving experience. It lets drivers start, accelerate, decelerate and stop by increasing or decreasing the pressure applied to the accelerator. When the accelerator is fully released, regenerative and friction brakes are applied automatically, bringing the LEAF to a complete stop. The car holds its position, even on steep uphill slopes, until the accelerator is pressed again. The reactiveness of e-Pedal helps maximize driving pleasure.

Exterior design: sleek silhouette and “cool tech attitude”
The new Nissan LEAF’s design includes a low, sleek profile that gives it a sharp, dynamic look. Along with excellent aerodynamics, the styling – from the sleek silhouette to the car’s “advanced expression” – evokes the exhilaration of driving an EV.

Familiar Nissan design features include the signature boomerang-shaped lamps and V-Motion flow in the front. The flash-surface grille in clear blue and the rear bumper’s blue molding emphasize its identity as a Nissan EV.

Interior design: premium ambience with a clean, relaxed, high-tech feeling
The LEAF’s completely redesigned cabin is focused on the driver, featuring a front panel in the form of a “gliding wing.” It combines an excellent use of space with functionality.

The interior design creates a relaxed ambience and premium quality feel, due to the carefully selected materials. Vibrant blue stitching in the seats, instrument panel and steering wheel have been incorporated as a symbol of Nissan’s electric vehicles. The 7-inch, full-color TFT display has been redesigned for easier comprehension of key features, such as the Safety Shield technology, power gauge and audio and navigation system information. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have also been added.

For customers who want more excitement and performance, Nissan will also offer a higher power, longer range version at a higher price in model year 2019. The new Nissan LEAF goes on sale in Japan on Oct. 2. The model is slated for deliveries in the U.S. and Europe in early 2018. The starting MSRP2 in the U.S. will be $29,990.

Video (below): Check out the live debut from Tokyo of the 2018 Nissan LEAF (from the 16:20 mark)

169 responses to "2018 Nissan LEAF Reveal Recap: 150 Miles This Year, 200+ Miles Next Year"

Enough to stay in the game, not enough to change the score it’s their competitors. If the $30k is before incentives, some people will get a very reasonably priced car. Using Tesla’s $9k for 25kWh more the 60kWh battery would be about $7200 more. If that is true, The Leaf could be much cheaper than the Bolt for the low end of the market.

Total non-sense this is a fantastic play by Nissan. 150 miles real range for less than $30k is fantastic. If you need more range you can spend the extra $7.5k on a bolt or the extra $10k+ on the model 3. It will be a available globally in decent numbers as well. Every car maker in the country chasing Tesla’s 200 mile under $40k target won’t help everyone.

Sure, those who reserved in March 2016 can probably get a Model 3 by then, if they also live in the US.

The about ninety million people who will buy a car next year who aren’t early reservation holders living in the US can’t however get a Model 3 without a long wait. There’s no telling if the wait will be more or less than the current ~1.5 years, but right now at least the reservation rate likely exceeds the (admittedly extremely low) production rate.

By the time you can actually get a Model 3 you can also get a 2019 LEAF!

No chance to see real deliveries of Model 3 in 2017. Q3 2018 is the soonest date you can count on good availability and for don’t you think that people will really buy $35k version with nothing more than basic trim.

Leaf will stay on the top in BEV market, but it is no match for Prius ability to get 700 miles of range in 3 minutes on every corner, and 50+ mpg fuel economy, no worse than charging at average electric rates before taxes.

We’re still not clear on the base options for the new Leaf.
So far we only know this:

“The 2018 Leaf comes in three trim levels, the Leaf S for $29,990, the Leaf SV for $32,490, and the Leaf SL for $36,200. It’s unclear what comes on which trim levels, but look for Nissan’s ProPilot Assist to be optional or standard on up-trim models. Other options include heated seats and a heated steering wheel. The Leaf comes with a basic warranty of 36 months or 36,000 miles and a powertrain warranty of 60 months or 60,000 miles.”

Seems hard to believe. Looking at the picture of the trunk area it’s clear it’s exactly the same trunk area. Not similar. It even has that round shape protruding in on the right (as you look into the trunk).

No mention of over the air updates which makes it almost certain to not be included. This means however limited the initial pro-pilot is you are stuck with it until you replace the car. No software updates to fix or improve the “e-pedal” performance. This “new” model is already old. It will require a low price to sell well.

iOS has only been released in ten major versions since the beginning nine years ago, so 1-2 times per year is actually pretty frequent. Add in that you implicitly update when you get a new phone, and you may have 20 updates in nine years.

Your car should live 15-20 years, so if you updated it as “infrequently” as you do iOS we’re looking at 40 otherwise unnecessary dealer visits.

In terms of convenience there’s no doubt whatever that OTA wins. The question is whether it’s safe. It definitely does add an attack vector for those who might want to hack your car.

Some nice detailed video footage after the event. Under hood – no frunk as expected. Charging port area seems bigger and higher up – CHAdeMO shown charging. Trunk looks a lot deeper. Interior looks almost identical to current model with some updated electronics seen in the Murano. Same drag coefficient is disappointing.

Yeah they have three factories in the world that can produce these vehicles. Let’s see if they up the production to 100k here in the states and not do a GM. GM bolt is failing because they produce so few without expanding nationwide and restricted the demand of the vehicle. They wanted to create a demand which they did but it hurt their sales and reputation with their shenagains. Leaf will outsell Bolt 2/1 and the price wars will start with more options being added to the GM to compete with it’s price point. I need memory power seats and a sunroof is all I’m asking.

So with fast charging to 80% listed as taking 40 minutes, that seems quite clearly still at 50 kW. I suppose it will go decently faster compared to the 30 kWh tho, because the larger 40 kWh battery enables the rate of charge to stay higher for longer.

When you’re waiting, rate of charge doesn’t matter. I hope they discontinue no charge to charge program, but I suspect they will continue. But if so, I hope they keep it 30 minutes rather than 1 hr or unlimited. It won’t prevent people from plugging in for second 30 minute free session, but hopefully there won’t be as many.

If this Leaf sell in large numbers and they allow 1 hr or unlimited time free charging, DCFC will be far more hopelessly clogged between Bolt and Leaf. Then people will stay away from EV. I probably won’t be driving EV next year.

The “No Charge To Charge” is a huge reason I was able to get a Leaf. I’m approaching three years of my Leaf with no home charging. The initial estimates to install wiring in my condo were crazy expensive.

I guess you prefer no one else buy an EV and you get pick of half-abandoned fast chargers. Too bad for you, the world is moving in a better direction.

fyi – on the east coast chademo chargers are very rarely unavailable due to being occupied. They are deployed in pairs in some locations and I have arrived with one of the two chademo in use. More often broken than occupied but most of the old Eatons are gone so that is improving. hopefully on the west coast the number of chademo chargers will grow to match the high EV sales.

Think of our west coast (more specifically San Diego and OC) as canary in a coal mine. As more EV are sold, this problem will appear everywhere if free charging is widespread. Heck, what Bolt showed is that even few dozen free and slow charging (in C rate) EV clog up an entire city.

This new Leaf with much longer charge time will cause lots of waiting thanks to free chargers. There will be orders of magnitude more free charging Leaf than free charging Bolt.

It doesn’t matter, there are no charging networks anyway, and Chademo will be obsolete fairly soon.

Plain and simple, you need thousands of charging stations with dozens of stalls each. Tesla has 1000 stations for their 250k cars on the road. You can upgrade them all to 300kW and 500kW when that time comes.

For many young single people (among others) their EV is their only car. The occasional trip longer than the range of the car just takes longer. This is where fast charging (ie: 150 kW) would come in handy.

I’ve done a few 200 mile plus trips in my 2016 Leaf which would have taken a lot less time in my wife’s 2010 Prius. Not in a rush. A trip that takes 3 hours with ICE (or hybrid) ends up taking 4 hours of more with a Leaf. But you get there.

I wouldn’t recommend that any young person have a <200 mile BEV as their only car if they have any choice in the matter. That is a recipe for a terrible experience that turns a customer off of BEVs for years.

That kind of customer would be much better off with a PHEV, or even an HEV.

Spider-Dan – So not true, not a big deal at all. My girlfriend has a 30kwh 2016 Nissan Leaf and I actually prefer to drive it over my gas guzzling Audi A5, EVEN on longer trips involving DC fast charging. The wait is not long at all in the grand scheme of things, we’ve used the fast chargers only about once or twice a month and with this 40kwh Leaf it would be even less frequent.

Maybe you didn’t read the part about “prefers to drive the Leaf on long trips”.

It turns out a lot of young people are buying EVs as their only car and many are not buying a car at all even if they could easily afford one. Occasionally retired people buy an EV as their only car (and do very little driving and all local).

I was talking about driving to the city and finding that the DC charger you wanted to use is down for repairs, then driving to another one and finding that it’s in use. I was talking about driving to work and then getting a call that your grandma is in the hospital 60 miles away.

Basically, I’m talking about the kind of transportation independence that is a major reason why a person owns a car in the first place (instead of simply using public transit or carpooling).

A low-range BEV is a terrible solution as a sole vehicle. They can be awesome as a supplementary car but I would never recommend them to anyone as a sole vehicle, excepting some sort of niche situation where a person has access to ~free charging and can’t really afford gas.

Just about the longest trip I’d take in a typical year is possible with one 30 minute charging & reading stop in this car. Basically I would drive this the same way as a Tesla on 100% of trips in a typical year.

Granted, going from Kristiansand, Norway to Napoli, Italy would be more convenient in the Tesla or a gasmobile, but that’s because the Nissan would require the use of many different charging providers with many different payment solutions (apps, RFID cards, …) and would be equally inconvenient even if the car had 100 kWh on board. Tesla’s network does make international trips in Europe simpler.

Calling yourself F150 I suppose it’s only to be expected you’d be here only to troll, not because of any genuine interest in EVs, and certainly not in the environment! Well, the F150 is a good way to advertise ignorance and selfishness. It’s a symbol of everything wrong with the US.

No need for personal insults. We got your point. F150’s comments don’t seem to me to be those of a troll.

btw- Lil Sparky is the name I’ve given to my 2016 Leaf. I also own a 2008 F-250 that I put about 2,500 miles a year on. A Leaf can’t tow 11,400 pounds or carry a heavy load or carry a lot of bulky or heavy tools or lumber or small boats. You get the idea.

That’s what I was thinking. A nicer looking car, with more features, 40% more range and a price cheaper than the outgoing model. I think it will do pretty good. The Leaf is the best selling EV to date and with more for less it will continue to sell very well I suspect.

Not everyone needs 300 miles of range, a SC network, crazy acceleration, nor does everyone want to pay for those either. 150 miles checks a heck of a lot of boxes for people. Different strokes for different folks.

Pretty much the same chassis dimensions as the gen one; same CD; bigger battery; more motor, faster to 60. new styling sheet metal on front and back. All I want is a longer range battery for my 2011 and I would be satisfied. Not enough in the new one for me to buy in.

There is talk of increasing the 2018 range later; one wonders if this 40 kWh battery is made by Nissan or is from their new battery supplier, L.G. CHEM? I’m guessing this one has a Nissan battery and the upgraded version later on will be from LG CHEM.

Yep, that’s the case – except of course is incorrect to refer to NEC as a “Nissan battery” since they sold their 51% stake.

I believe they couldn’t get the 60 kWh from LG yet, or not at the right price, and that’s why it we must wait another year.

Nissan internally doesn’t refer to this car as a new generation, because it isn’t. They call it a facelift. A new generation usually is engineered anew from the ground up, and the second generation LEAF is expected in 2020.

Which means the LEAF, which has been updated so much less than many wished, will have quite a run the next three years. MY 2018 is this significantly improved car; 2019 sees the introduction of a version with further 50% more capacity on board, and 2020 a brand new car.

It should be good for much except second hand value. My 2012 SL wasn’t worth very much a week ago, but it’ll be worth significantly less in February or so when all the potential buyers are aware of the new car at the old price point!

I like it. Cargo space is key for us and 150mi works. 200mi would be interesting to see and we may have the time to decide with 15 yo to learn in the odyssey and move over to Leaf 2.0 with space for dog in the trunk.

Its obviously an evolutionary upgrade off the existing Leaf platform with some nice improvements.

I withhold final judgement until we know about the battery TMS. If then is none then it will be compromised again.

i do think the white with the black floating roof looks WAY better then the existing leaf but the solid ones are a more marginal looking improvement.

If these sell in the low 20k range and leases in the 100-150$/month range, with the incentives I could see these doing very well as capable commuters with occasional long-distance travel where there is adequate charging.

The just under $30K starting price will be a big plus for a lot of people. The roughly $32k and $35k of the SV and SL are also great.

150 miles of range is a disappointment and will hurt against Bolt and Model 3, though the price may make up for it. Market will tell us.

btw- the 40 KWh battery is the same size and about the same weight as the older 30 kWh. The 60 kWh may or may not add some bulk and some weight. Different battery chemistries with improving densities.

This is still a huge improvement over 2016 or 2017 (which were essentially the same except the S dropping the really old 22 Kw battery in 2017).

Nothing on > 50kW charging capability, but that may come with the new battery (if at all in the near future). Nissan is largely behind the new 150 kW chademo spec but they need to make a car that can charge at over 50 kW to go with the newer chargers. All Teslas charge at a bit under the 150 kW rate and the charger network is extensive. Without active cooling a much higher charge rate may not be possible, but we’ll see.

Nissan execs now “get it” on the range issue, unlike in pre-2015. Now they need to get clued in on the charge rate and need for a charger network to support it. A Tesla doesn’t have you charging 30 minutes for each 90-100 minutes of driving when your trip exceeds the car’s range but a Leaf or Bolt does.

The google auto and apple carplay will help. Too bad its not on the S. The current nav is somewhat lacking and integrated pandora or spotify will be nice.

Just my impression.

One of my cars is a 2016 Leaf and I like it a lot. The 2018 Leaf is a big improvement. I also have a 2007 Prius that my son drives and might have traded that in for a 2018 Leaf if not for the limited range. No news on faster charging would have been a disappointment but maybe not halted this purchase.

A very nice car but I’ll wait to see what 2019 has to offer. So far we know 2019 will bring a 60 kWh battery with 200++ miles of range is expected, maybe 215-220 miles. If the DC charging isn’t capable of taking advantage of a lot more than 50 KW and there is some news on US northeast deployment of 150 kW chademo then I may just go the extra dollars and get a model 3 (just under 150 kW charge rate), assuming the model 3 wait list has emptied by 2019.

Unlike most people I really did not hate the look of the old leaf. but i must say this one looks way more beautiful. with 150+ range i think it will compel a lot of buyers to consider it. exciting times

I got to say the presentation was top notch (that projection mapping!), along with very well produced marketing videos at the end – it is clear that this car is a big deal for Nissan and they have high hopes (and investments) for it.

I think they got the right idea – this is a city commuter car and is priced appropriately. With 150-mile range I can easily see taking occasional out of town trips around Tristate area in this car: a couple of hours driving followed by a 30-minute break for charge/snack/bathroom – that is pretty close to my normal out-of-town driving pattern.

Think about this: factoring in the $7500 federal incentive in the US the new Leaf will be starting at roughly $22500 for 150 miles vs. Bolt at $30000 for 238 miles – that is a huge price difference and I don’t think the longer range makes up for it. $30k is simply too much money for a compact city commuter of a budget brand like Chevy or Nissan, it is not price-competitive with ICE competition and you still likely won’t make it from NY to Boston without stopping to charge if you’re in a hurry. The price difference between the new Leaf and the Bolt becomes even more stark if you add state/local incentives. In this scenario Leaf 2.0 is pretty much at price parity (or cheaper) with comparable ICE competition, while the Bolt is still priced into the upper-spec full-size sedan territory.

Tesla Model 3 is in a different market segment – premium sports sedan in direct competition with BMW 3, and priced very competitively for that class.

Overall great effort from Nissan, I believe with this car they will remain the mass-market EV leader.

Agree that Nissan’s not aiming to compete against the Model 3. They want to grab the local hauler market and they have our attention with the 150mi and improved specs with good cargo space and a host of safety and convenience factors for commute traffic.

$22500 and available in December. If that includes the basics and ProPilot Assist — that’s going to be pretty hard to beat.

If lease stays <$200 or close to the $0.25/mile mark —it'll be a force to reckon.

Nissan dealers have to have a $199 3yr/12k miles for leased and they will fly out of deares like it’s black Friday. I’m looking for 3 yr/18k lease at around 250-260 that way i can rollover my negative on my volt.

I think Nissan never intended for the new Leaf to go head to head with the Model 3. Instead, it would be the lower-cost, practical option for people that didn’t want a flashy Tesla badge but wanted an EV with 150+ miles of range.

Only problem is GM then came out with the Bolt. Suddenly, the lower cost (average transaction cost), practical option card was gone. So Nissan had no card left to play other than the economy card.

In a tesla model 3 or a bolt you could make it from NY to Boston (217 miles according to google maps) without charging if you start with a full charge. One charge of 30 minutes with the Leaf would be more than enough.

OTOH – Boston to DC would be another story. That is 439 miles (estimated 7.5 hourse) again according to google maps. You’d need to spend another roughly 2-2.5 hours charging your Leaf or Bolt. With less range you’d have more diversions from your route to get to a charging station that isn’t right along the highway (most of them) so a bit more with the Leaf. With Tesla, the charging stations are along the highway and you’d need maybe 30-40 minutes of charge time.

Adding 1/2 hour to a 7.5 hour drive is not a big deal. Adding 2-3 hours to a 7.5 hour drive is a big deal.

For that reason Tesla is closer to mainstream than Leaf or Bolt, though still priced a bit high. Model 3 starts at $35k, lower than Bolt. The nearly 400,000 model 3 wait list exceeds all Leaf sold worldwide to date (about 300,000) and at 20,000 per month by December (if targets are met) would be in the range of Leaf’s annual sales with each month of sales. That would be just delivering the cars to fill the current back orders. The question remains how strong model 3 sales will be after the order backlog is cleared.

IMHO – to be truly mainstream an EV needs to eliminate any major objections relative to ICE and offer considerably better total cost of ownership and comparable or better initial purchase price. To eliminate objections three things are needed: 1) reasonable range (seems to be 200 miles or more in US, maybe 150 is OK in Europe, probable way less is OK in Japan and China), and 2) charging a 150 kW or better so charging wait time is not too much more than a gas pump, and 3) a charging network that makes that fast charging a reality, 300 miles of range would be even better (model 3 has that but at $42k price). 350 kW charging rate would be great but no one has that. Tesla has the objections covered but hasn’t hit the price point needed to challenge ICE (so far other than taking sales from luxury brands with the S and X).

I’m not sure why you wrote this. Tesla model 3 EPA range is just under the NY-Boston distance but people do exceed the EPA distance often. Model 3 starts at $35k with 215 mile range. The larger battery gets over 300 mile range but at $44k. I misstated that as $42k. As to the time spent charging Boston-DC, you should review the math and tell me where you think I got it wrong.

As to bias, I think that tesla model 3, though more costly by about $5k from base Leaf and less than MSRP for SL, is a more practical car due to the faster charging. The charge rate being nearly 3 times faster is not bias, it is fact. That I think it is important is an informed opinion.

How do you figure that the $35k M3 – which has less range than the Bolt – somehow has 1/5th of the charge time to travel 440 miles?

For comparison’s sake, a Model S 60 can supercharge ~110 miles in 30 minutes.
A Bolt can CCS charge ~90 miles in ~30 minutes. So how do you have a Bolt needing “2.5 hours” to charge an extra ~200 miles, yet a Model 3 taking “30 minutes” to charge an extra ~220 miles?

He seems bias. 150 miles seems perfect for me. If I want to driver longer distance I can use my BF Explorer Sport. For my work of round trip of 52 miles Round trip the leaf will do. I can charge it every 2 days of the week and have full charge with 120 v overnight charge

Bolt’s 90 miles in 30 min is only to 50%. Beyond that, it’s 70 miles in 30 min to 70% (it won’t take 30 min), followed by 50 miles in 30 min until about 90%. For long distance travel, you wouldn’t stop at 50%, which means Bolt’s effective could be much less than 90.

Tesla starts far higher initially, but has linear taper, about 45 kW at 80%. That means average power for high % (ie, long distance travel) is much higher than Bolt.

I wonder about the Bolt taper points going forward. As GM gets more real world data and their test fleet ages, they may get a bit more confident that the taper points can be relaxed a bit. Moving the first taper point out to 60% from 53% would make a small but noticeable difference.
And getting the max charge rate to a real world 75 kW for that first half hour or so would be huge. But that pre-supposes that you can find a CCS charger that is capable of 75 kW charge rates. I thought that would be easier to do by now.

Tesla currently claims 170 miles in 30 minutes. That reflects some slow down but only to an average of 95 kW over the entire charge session.

I just reread the article athttp://www.greencarreports.com/news/1105234_tesla-boosts-supercharger-electric-car-charging-rate-to-145-kw and see that in practice rate is still limited to 120 kW. Under the chart that shows a linear decline is the caption “I am only hearing about this change with 90D battery packs so far. A buddy of mine in Connecticut with a P90D sent me his data and he is now charging at about the same rate I am.” Prior to that is “I supercharged my car this weekend and compared the rate of charge to the last time I tracked the charging power vs. state of charge. It was charging 70 percent faster at the start and 50 percent faster at the end of [a] relatively short Supercharger stop this weekend.” It seems that this chart is a disservice to the article since it is the charge rate of one owner who is now seeing a higher charge rate. This new user experienced charge rate is not indicated anywhere in the article. The chart only to serves to show that it was slower. The article states that it is now faster but fails to provide a new graph. Also if charge rate slowdown is related to battery heating faster than TMS can cool it, then the ambient temperature may be a factor.

Tesla S60 is no longer made. Still 100 miles in 18 minutes is twice the charge speed Nissan claims for 2018 Leaf (88 miles in 30 minutes). The older model S are limited to about 115 kW charge rate (I think). Supercharger itself is limited to about 145 kW according to Tesla. Tesla claims 125 kW of charge rate for the newer car on the conservative assumption that the battery might arrive a bit hot after driving a few hours and have to charge at a lower rate than maximum.

I have driven from MA to CT which is most of the Boston to NY route in a 2016 Leaf SV more than once. Many of the chademo charge stations are a ways off the highway (I-95) and just pulling in and out (without charge time) wastes 10-15 minutes (more at some chargers). The superchargers are just off the highways so you gain in that way. I have also looked into doing the drive from MA to MD which is 80-90% overlap with the Boston-DC route. The charger location situation is that same south of NY – not convenient for chademo chargers mostly at Nissan dealers, shopping malls, and dunkin donuts.

The combination of 2.5 times the charging rate (125-145 kW vs 50 kW at best) and having to go a greater distance off the highway was the basis of the estimate. If anyone else wants to do that math I’d be interested in their estimate.

I’ve driven on not quite one of these two trips and did some planning for the other so I have a good idea how much time would be wasted at charging stations with Leaf’s 50 kW charging rate. And yes I know that my Nissan is limited to 40 kW in practice since at most the battery is 400V and most chargers dole out 100A max (or the car is limited to that – I’m not sure which).

Do the math. 60 kW gets you about 215 mile and 40 kW gets 150 miles. Both are about 3.6-3.7 miles/kWh (Leaf doing slightly better). Tesla needs 122.523 kW to go 439 miles. Leaf needs 117.066 kW. If Telsa arrive with half a charge (30 kW), then Tesla needs roughly 90 kW of charging along the way and if Leaf arrives with half a charge (20 kW) is needs roughly 100 kW charging. That’s two hours of pure charging, no allowance for detour off the highway and three charge stops. Telsa needs 90 kW so that’s conservatively 45 minutes (not 30 minutes so OK). The Nissan estimate of 2-3 hours is probably about right as I’ve found that adding up to 50% for detour is not unreasonable due to chademo charge station locations and 2 hours is neglecting the off-ramp delay entirely.

So 45 minutes vs 2-3 hours of charge delay is not unreasonable thing to say. Sorry 30 minutes was a mistake – unless you are willing to arrive with just about zero charge left.

A good way to estimate off-ramp delay is to pick your charging stations and put the charge stations into google maps as waypoints. Note the time estimate, then delete the waypoints from the route and subtract that time. Then add the time it takes to actually get a charge given the distance between charging stations. Keep in mind that the 30 minute charge session timers exist and you’ll have to be at the charger to reset and get a second session for more than an 88 mile charge on the Leaf. That will give you an estimate of the minimum time added to the trip due to charging.

Looks like I am being a bit too optimistic on Tesla charging. Cars are limited to 120 kW at present and slow down as charging proceeds. Not sure if that is related to time on the charger and heat or related to charge state. I suspect more of the former. Still, 90-100 kW average charge rate seems reasonable if charging at no more than 20 minutes in a session. This may be like my 2016 Leaf SV (30kWh) where planning to drive 80 miles or less between charge stations may get you there faster due to less risk of slowing the charge rate (due to heat and going over 85% charge state) even if it means more stops.

From seeing the interior (like the trunk area) it is absolutely clear this is not an all new LEAF. This is a LEAF 1.5.

And 60kW later, but not day is just a ridiculous fudge.

That said, with the proper discounts and wth worldwide availability (unlike the Bolt EV) this car will certainly sell quite a bit. And so it’ll be a big part of the EV revolution.

But still, it’s hard to describe this as a boring, unadventurous update to the LEAF line. Nissan has ceded any concept of the lead in EVs (to Tesla primarily) and instead is simply one of the affordable, available choices to potential EV buyers.

The position of second leader (after Tesla) in electrification will go to the first company that announces a *second* full-market EV, showing that they realize that EVs aren’t a niche but instead an increasingly common option that cannot be served by a single body style of EV any more than it could be a single body style of ICE car. And yes, I know about the Nissan e-NV200. It doesn’t count.

GM has been selling the Volt and ELR for many years, and is now selling the Bolt across the country.

You have to have a pretty narrowly defined set of criteria to arrive at the conclusion that the top selling EV in America (Volt) and the top selling EV in the (non-China) world (Leaf) somehow both don’t count, but Tesla’s ultra-luxury offerings do.

It’s not an EV if it has a tailpipe. The Volt is a PHEV/EREV. So no, it doesn’t count.

The LEAF does count. Thus Nissan has one car, not two. I said the key is when a company offers two. Tesla already offers 3 cars which aim at distinct markets and are all EVs.

No one else even offers two. Once someone else offers two (presumably the other being a CUV) EVs is large numbers they will have signaled that like Tesla they are putting EVs into the broad market.

If you are just putting out an EV, even a good one and telling customers that they need to adapt their needs to what this car offers then you clearly aren’t going to sell to customers who instead would rather have a car that fits their needs.

You can see this with the Bolt. It’s a good EV. Well executed, efficient due to its small size. But what if customers don’t want a car so small? They have two choices: not get an EV, or get the small car anyway.

We need to see companies (other than Tesla) move on from the “sell an EV to fill the EV niche” stage to the “sell EVs to people who just want cars” stage. And this vehicle doesn’t signal Nissan has done that. No other company besides Tesla has signaled they have done that.

Why is the metric two and not, say, four? Seems like your metric is specifically engineered so that Tesla meets it and no one else does.

I mean, I can do the same thing and say that “unless you have sold more than 100k of an EV in the U.S., you aren’t an EV leader,” or “unless you are selling an EV for under $40k to the public in all 50 states, you aren’t an EV leader,” or “unless you have made an EV good enough to move 250k units globally, you aren’t an EV leader.”

You’re basically just starting at the desired outcome and then creating criteria that defines Tesla as the only candidate that meets it.

For a brief freaky moment I thought there was a new LEAF parked outside my house. A quick double-take later and I realized that it was a Murano. The styling was almost identical. Will people consider the new LEAF to be the smaller CUV version of the Murano? It is directly comparable to the CX-3, HR-V and RVR in passenger leg/head room, cargo space and ride height. I didn’t care about losing AWD, off-road or towing capacity. Because the LEAF could out perform them. Moreso with this iteration.

Better get used to it, at least around here that is, if you can deal with GMs shady side of the EV street. GM does weave a tangled and sticky EV web for Tesla, and should be admonished accordingly. GM has a well documented EV track record, and their Bolt offering, will not just smooth over all past and current EV transgressions , so to speak. Some people DO actually pay attention to what Tesla is trying to accomplish, and yes GM is looking to help Tesla stifle their business model.

Yep. The “new” Leaf comes standard with a 3.3 kW onboard L2 charger and optional DCFC. But the people that blasted GM for not including DCFC standard in the Bolt will now praise Nissan for giving customers “options” on whether they want beefier charging or not.

bro1999 – It does not come with a 3kw onboard charger, it’s the same 6.6kw onboard charger as in the current Leaf. That was just Nissan informing us of how many hours it would take to charge on a lower-power L2 charger which is very rare to find these days and which you would not want to install in your garage (basically a very stupid mention by Nissan, marketing-Wise, as it confuses potential customers).

Not sure why they Nissan did that, perhaps in relation to global stats/charging protocols? IDK – not such a great idea. Causes more confusion that it was worth for sure. It’s the same 6.6 kW L2 however.

I would think that very few of the people who are oh so angry about GM actually own EVs. They’re just looking for something to grandstand about.

So they watch Who Killed The Electric Car, read TMC and Electrek and think they’re experts. At most they have a Model 3 reservation and Tesla stock. 😉

There are only a few companies who have really provided good Plug-in options. GM is one of them. And more are on the way.

There are things to criticize GM about, but saying this disqualifies the Bolt or Volt from being purchased is backwards if the ultimate goal is to increase EV adoption. For instance: despite my distaste for Toyota and it’s policies… if the Prime is the right car for someone, I will recommend it to them. I want them to start driving on battery power!

I love GM but they are killing themselves marketing thier EVs (which is none) and cutting production when they are trying to expand nationwide. Not exporting the ones on the Lots to different dealers and not exporting the ones at the factory to Europe or the UK. Price point for style and options are why off and no effort for electrification on their other brands or vehicles the have. Voltec on Encore or Trac will sell. Voltec on the new transverse will be a seller

Nissan fans will applaud this car (my friend Brian is going out of State to get a personal look and test drive) – but to me, its just not quite enough.

On the plus side, it is reasonably priced.

On the minus side – I have no idea what a 25% improvement in cooling the battery means. Previous ‘improvements’ don’t seem to have lessened owners’ grief with the battery life.

For those who care about battery range (a BIG issue with me personally), Nissan won’t have anything even near the BOLT for a year and a half, – a very long time in the EV world.

I don’t believe Battery technology has advanced to the point where you can forget about cooling or heating.

Nissan engineers made fun of cars like the VOLT nearly 8 years ago now for having such an expensive temperature control system. But who had the last laugh?

Many people will like this new Nissan – but I definitely would not want it for a first car – maybe a distant third.

By the way, what exactly IS the battery warranty? I was curious about that when the original Leaf came out, and by my read, Nissan promised to do absolutely nothing for you – unless you mean former VP Andy Palmer’s suggestion to make “the gas gauge read always full”.

As an additional note, I leased a Ford C-Max Energi for 2 years…it had active air cooling where the Energi sucked in air from the cabin cooled by the AC into the battery compartment.
Despite days where I would have the A/C cranking, when temps hit the 90’s and I drove on the highway for more than a few minutes, the HV battery would routinely climb up to 113F (despite active cooling) and the Energi would actually turn the ICE on until the HVB temp lowered.

I can only imagine how hot the batteries got in Energis in really hot climates like Arizona.

This new Nissan is too little too late. Looks like the same old crappy battery upped to 40 kwh.

…..and we have to wait another year to get a 60 kwh version….and we know nothing about it. Geesh I thought Nissan would at least give us some tech details on the 60 kwh battery. Like WHO MAKES IT and IS IT LIQUID COOLED?

Tesla and GM make the best offerings. Nissan was fast out of the gate and then gave up.

Djoni – I would add “liquid-cooled battery pack” to your must-have list. I’ve heard anecdotally that it will have 25% better air cooling, but I’m starting to think what that might mean is that they’ve simply added a fan (the current Leaf just has vents) to “air cool” the battery with no a/c, just ambient air forced on top of the battery pack or underneath it. If that suspicion is correct, then it’s a MAJOR fail. They could have at least done like the Kia Soul EV and used cold air from the a/c to cool the battery; cheap and effective, especially since you normally have the a/c on anyways on really hot days, so just piping a portion of it to the battery pack seems like a no brainer. Somebody at Nissan should be fired over this.

> Now just 8 years later, and after some 7 years of retail sales, the next generation has arrived.

Well, I guess we can humour them for a while, now that they’ve finally updated it. But really the second generation isn’t coming until 2020. This is a facelift – but a substantial one.

Keeping the price fixed and adding 40% range, significant power and torque, more equipment, and updating the exterior, interior and probably infotainment system is par for the course with EVs. 🙂

Not so good for the second hand value of my 2012 SL tho… but I can’t have it both ways, and I would much rather EVs get better and cheaper than not, even if mine then becomes worthless.

I may be tempted to go for a test drive when it comes to Norway, but I doubt it will tempt me enough to convince me to cancel my Model 3 reservation. If the 60 kWh had arrived now and cost less than the Tesla I would have had some serious thinking to do…

I am sorry but Nissan really screwed up on the exterior and performance and range is atrocious. This is just as ugly as the old Leaf, which looked like a toad on wheels. Why didn’t they just make this look like the Infinity Q30? I was holding out till the specs were released and now I know I am getting a Model 3. Good job Nissan on shooting yourself in the foot.

2015 Leaf lessee here. Really diggin’ this 2018 car. The looks are good (except from the front IMHO) and growing on me, but what really gets me excited is the awesome range and better acceleration to 60–at the same MSRP!!

Also the ability to drive one pedal is something I very much look forward to. Regen is very important to me!

150 Miles EPA for me probably means 180, since I drive more conservatively and with less A/C and heat need compared to most Americans. Either way its well more than enough for our 2nd car.

The huge improvements made to the mass market BEV (read Nissan Leaf–at least for the USA) over 7 years time is very exciting!

Because it is cheaper and with meaningfully more cargo room, I am more likely to get into the new Leaf than the Bolt–or Model 3, for that matter. (I love those cars to, don’t get me wrong.